111 kilometers, one day: A journey from E1 to Tel Aviv

Israel is threatening to bisect the West Bank by building in the E1 area, between the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem. A photographic journey shot in medium format film – starting east of Jerusalem, through the west of the city and all the way to Tel Aviv – provides portraits of how different rights are extended to different people under Israeli rule.

By Mareike Lauken and Keren Manor

With a population of 39,000 inhabitants, Ma’aleh Adumim is the third largest Israeli settlement in the West Bank. The international community considers Israeli settlements illegal under international law. Around 1,050 Palestinian Jahalin Bedouins were forcibly moved from the area in the late 1990s when the land was annexed to the settlement.

Our journey begins in Ma’aleh Adumim, one of 124 Israeli settlements established in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 1967. With its green lush palm trees, olive tree roundabouts and parks, the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim stands in stark contrast to the surrounding semi-arid environment.

Khan al-Ahmar is a Bedouin encampment in the West Bank, between the illegal Israeli settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim and Kfar Adumim. The families living in Khan al-Ahmar are from the Jahalin Bedouin tribe who fled from the Negev during the 1948 War. The encampment was slated for demolition in February 2010 due to allegations of illegal buildings.

Not far from the settlement we find the Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin communities, who live with no access to water or electricity services, while facing the constant fear of being displaced for the second or third time.

The Palestinian Bedouin communities of the Arab al Jahalin tribe are at an exceedingly growing risk of forced ethnic displacement. The communities have been informed by the Israeli Civil Administration that they have no option but to leave the area, as part of a larger plan to relocate Bedouin communities living in Area C, where Israel retains control over security as well as planning and zoning.

Anata is a town northeast of Jerusalem, which is divided into three areas; the Jerusalem municipality, Area C and Area B. Large areas of Anata’s land have been confiscated or destroyed in the process of constructing the separation wall and bypass roads. The wall and bypass roads will separate Anata from its eastern lands, which constitute the majority of the village’s lands and will surround Anata from all sides, together with the Shuafat Refugee Camp and Dahiyat Assalam.

As we drive towards Jerusalem we can see on our right a new section of the Israeli separation wall, and we cross to the “other side” through a new checkpoint. It seems that the opportunities for normal life for the people in the Shuafat refugee camp are even more obstructed than before.

The Shuafat Refugee camp is the only Palestinian refugee camp located inside Jerusalem municipality. While its residents carry Jerusalem identity cards, which theoretically grant them most of the same privileges and rights as Israeli citizens, the camp itself is largely serviced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

The separation wall in the Shuafat refugee camp and the new permanent military terminal located at the entrance to the camp will separate more than 20,000 Palestinian Jerusalem residents from East Jerusalem, and directly affect their access to their schools, workplaces and other facilities and institutions.

We cross the checkpoint again, and this time we are stopped by the Israeli soldiers. Half an hour later, we are allowed to continue to Jerusalem, since we have the “right” passports.

Nabil Al-Kurd enters his family house in Sheikh Jarrah. The Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah, refugees from the 1948 war, were settled in the neighborhood by the Jordanian government that ruled the area till 1967 and the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). The Al-Kurd family, like other Palestinian families in the neighborhood, were evicted from some of their homes, and Jewish settler families moved in based on an Israeli Supreme Court ruling that the property was owned by Jews.

The Muslim Quarter in the Old City. During the 1967 war, Israel occupied the Old City along with the rest of East Jerusalem. Today, Israel controls the entire area, which was annexed to the Jerusalem municipality borders. The annexation of East Jerusalem breaches international law, which prohibits unilateral annexation.

We cross the city from east to west. Despite the fact that in Israel, the annexation of East Jerusalem is considered to have “reunified” the city, we found two very different realities in East and West Jerusalem. In the eastern part, we see neglected neighborhoods, a massive police and army presence, traces of demolished houses and more new segregated Jewish settlements. Life in the west seems much more comfortable.

Jabel Mukaber is a neighborhood in East Jerusalem. East Jerusalem residents are required to pay taxes like all city residents. However, they do not receive the same services. The Jerusalem Municipality has continuously failed to invest significantly for infrastructure and services (such as roads, sidewalks, water and sewage systems) in Jerusalem’s Palestinian neighborhoods.

Armon Hanaziv (also known as East Talpiot) is an illegal settlement annexed to Israel during the 1967 war. It was established in 1973 and around 15,000 people currently live in the neighborhood. Development of the settlement in 2006 worked to create a belt around Jerusalem to ultimately sever East Jerusalem from the West Bank.

Following the 1948 war, Jerusalem was divided into two — the western portion, populated primarily by Jews, came under Israeli rule, while East Jerusalem, populated mainly by Muslim and Christian Palestinians, came under Jordanian rule. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

A street in West Jerusalem.

Qalandiya checkpoint is one of the largest Israeli military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank. It separates Ramallah residents from southern Palestinian towns and the northern Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem. The crossing is only to be used by Jerusalem ID holders, foreigners and Palestinians with special permits to enter Israel.

We go out of the city and reach Qalandiya checkpoint in the late afternoon. The few Palestinian workers who have a permit to work in Israel are passing the checkpoint on their way home.

An open roadblock on an access road connecting Palestinian villages with Route 443. In 2002, Israel prohibited Palestinians from using the road by placing physical obstructions like iron gates, concrete blocks and checkpoints. In 2009, Israel’s High Court of Justice accepted the Association for Civil Rights in Israel’s petition against an Israeli army order barring Palestinians from driving on Route 443.

Route 443. Israel paved the road in the 1980s, using 14 kilometers of an existing route in the West Bank as part of the road. This 14-kilometer stretch, which is about half the length of the entire road, served for decades as the main Palestinian traffic artery in the southern Ramallah District. Israel expanded the existing route by expropriating thousands of dunams of public and private land belonging to Palestinian residents of villages in the area. The usage of this road is highly problematic for Palestinians, though they do now have a legal right to use it.

We continue to Route 443 on our way home. The sun is going down. We can already see the skyline of Tel Aviv only 30 km from the fences, roadblocks, watchtowers, settlements, and checkpoints that accompany us on our way out of the West Bank.

Lapid settlement was established in 1996. It was built on a strip of land designated as a no man’s land. Before 1967, this territory did not belong to either Jordan or Israel.

Although it is located in the occupied territories of the West Bank, Route 443 is used daily by thousands of Israelis, as it is an alternate route to the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road (Highway No. 1), which is generally over-crowded with traffic.

Tel Aviv is the second most populous city in Israel, founded in 1909 by Jaffa’s Jewish community. It is the country’s financial capital, the second-largest economy in the Middle East, and the 31st most expensive city in the world.

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LEAVE A COMMENT

COMMENTS

sh

TuesdayDecember 11, 2012

The caption under photo 6 is erroneous:

“Nabil Al-Kurd enters his family house in Sheikh Jarrah. The Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah, refugees from the 1948 war, were settled in the neighborhood by the Jordanian government that ruled the area till 1967 and the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA). The Al-Kurd family, like other Palestinian families in the neighborhood, were evicted from their homes, and Jewish settler families moved in based on an Israeli Supreme Court ruling that the property was owned by Jews.”
——–

This photo shows Nabil Al-Kurd entering his family home in Sheikh Jarrah, which indicates that he still lives there, which is true. In fact they were evicted from an annexe they built in front of their home, which was to house their growing extended family spanning several generations and for which they could not get a permit.

Settlers of the most bigoted kind were given the keys to it and use it as a store-room and kennel for a large and very loud dog because the court did not grant them permission to sleep there. Settlers and the Al-Kurds use the same entrance to the compound. The settlers mark their presence in shifts by spending hours in that front yard seated on sofas and exchanging insults with the family and those who come to visit it, or hauling out and bringing back furniture and paraphernalia they use for demonstrations and events they organize.

The house opposite with the outsize Hanukiya on the roof belongs to the Al-Ghawi family. They were evicted and at first tried to live in a tent on the sidewalk. It was demolished many times by the municipality and repeatedly vandalized before it was abandoned.

The Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity website seems no longer to be updated but this FAQ telling the entire story of the neighbourhood is still accessible:

Activestills

TuesdayDecember 11, 2012

Sh, you’re right that the caption is imprecise–and I’ve updated it. It’s true that Nabil’s family was evicted from only part of their home as you mention. Other members of the Al-Kurd family, Fawzieh Al-Kurd and her husband Mohammad, were evicted from their home nearby in November 2008. Mohammad died days later.

sh

Yes and she too sat near the house in a tent for a long time, didn’t she.

Reply to Comment

The Zombie Mohammed

TuesdayDecember 11, 2012

“The western portion, populated primarily by Jews, came under Israeli rule, while East Jerusalem, populated mainly by [Mohammedan] and Christian Palestinians, came under Jordanian rule.”

Simply not true. Jerusalem (ALL of Jerusalem) has been majority Jewish since the 18th Century. In accordance with Shari’ah, “East Jerusalem” was racially cleansed during the genocidal war of extermination against the Jews in 1948.

Now, you can argue that Koranic apartheid is a good policy and Jews shouldn’t be allowed to live in “Palestine” (they are Najis). That’s the position of you on the Left. But let’s not pretend that genocide against Jews is not the core of what it means to be an “Activist”/Mohammedan.

TZM – I have very low tolerance for people who make erroneous assertions as fact in the comment threads on this website. Several of your colleagues have tried to do the same thing. I slapped them down and I am slapping you down, too. Jerusalem was most certainly NOT majority Jewish in the 18th century.

The Jewish population of Jerusalem in the 18th century was approximately 3,000 out of a total of between 12 and 15,000. That fact is not disputed even by mainstream, conservative Jewish sources. Here is one source: http://www.jcpa.org/jpsr/f94-jb.htm

Reply to Comment

Kolumn9

TuesdayDecember 11, 2012

Ooh. You got slapped down by 972mag’s local correspondent in Canada. See, you should have said 19th century, not 18th century, in which case you would have been entirely correct and a self-agrandizing slapping down could have been avoided.

Reply to Comment

Danny

TuesdayDecember 11, 2012

Not even in the 19th century, I’m afraid. Up until around 1880 (the first big Zionist emigration), the Jews comprised less than 5% of the overall population. Only after the first waves of Eastern European immigrants (1882, 1904, 1919, 1924) did the Jewish “yishuv” begin to take shape and grow (though still being a fractional minority of the overall population). Only after the ethnic cleansing of 1948 did the Jews finally become the biggest demographic in Palestine. Learn some history please.

Reply to Comment

Kolumn9

TuesdayDecember 11, 2012

Dear Danny, read the actual discussion before commenting. It is about Jerusalem. Jews became the majority in Jerusalem in the 19th century, so ‘since the 19th century’ would have been entirely accurate. Also, don’t you worry. My knowledge of the history of the area is extremely thorough.

Reply to Comment

Danny

TuesdayDecember 11, 2012

Seems like much of modern-day Israel has been built illegally on land that was forcibly taken at gunpoint and defended using some of the most draconian and, quite honestly – Orwellian, methods of control (I wonder what Orwell would have thought about the wall). How long can such a state survive? I’m an Israeli Jew and I’m thoroughly sick of it. I can only imagine what Obama and Merkel think.

Reply to Comment

The Trespasser

WednesdayDecember 12, 2012

Obama actually happens to be a president of a state which has been built illegally on land that was forcibly taken at gunpoint and defended using some of the most draconian methods of control.

I think that he is a bit more honest man than you are, which is why he’s doing just fine.

Stevo

Not to mention that the U.S. has also been building a wall, but nobody seems to complain about that, never mind that it doesn’t have to deal with snipers shooting from the neighboring territory.

Reply to Comment

Rauna

FridayDecember 14, 2012

Trespasser, at least Obama and the landowner whose land has been “taken at gunpoint” live together happily and enjoy equal rights under the US constitution. Do Palestine in Jerusalem enjoy same right as jewish jerusalemites?Perhaps you would like to pay a visit to Shuafat refugee camp and see the truth for yourself.

Reply to Comment

Kolumn9

FridayDecember 14, 2012

Let’s wait two hundred years and then judge, shall we?

Reply to Comment

Rauna

FridayDecember 14, 2012

Stevo, U.S built the wall along internationally recognized border, not on a stolen land.This is legal anywhere on earth.

Reply to Comment

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Activestills is a collective of Israeli, Palestinian, and international photographers, united by a conviction that photography is a vehicle for political and social change. Our images are frequently published by many leading human rights, development, and advocacy agencies. To stay updated on our latest images, like Activestills on Facebook, visit our Flickr photostream, or get our email newsletter. Channel editors: Ryan Rodrick Beiler, Keren Manor, Shiraz Grinbaum.

As photographers, we believe in the power of images to shape public attitudes and to raise awareness on issues that are generally absent from public discourse. We view ourselves as part of the struggle against all forms of oppression, racism, and violations of the basic right to freedom.

About +972 Magazine

+972 is an independent, blog-based web magazine. It was launched in August 2010, resulting from a merger of a number of popular English-language blogs dealing with life and politics in Israel and Palestine.

+972 is an independent, blog-based web magazine. It was launched in August 2010, resulting from a merger of a number of popular English-language blogs dealing with life and politics in Israel and Palestine.